1. Field of the Invention
The main object of the invention is a station for a line system for transporting people or goods.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In my French Pat. Spec. No. 2,077,133 I have described a transporting system for people or goods, in which a transport vehicle runs on a roller track and is driven by a fluid set in continuous motion at high speed in a channel or canal, into which extends a member which is connected to the vehicle and is subject to the thrust of the fluid. My copending patent application Ser. No. 719,893 filed Sept. 2, 1976 makes provision for the said installation to comprise a plurality of lines, in a closed circuit, forming a system, each line converging towards a central distributing circle, equipped with points for each entry and exit of the lines of the circle. It is then possible to serve stations, arranged at intervals on the different lines, by a series of made-up vehicle trains, which all follow one another on the same single track of the station and are adapted to serve each line in succession, in a given constant order in accordance with a cyclic distribution law. This type of installation is particularly suitable for rail services using short trains at a very high frequency (several per minute), whatever may be the method of propulsion: by means of hydraulic propulsion, by means of a cable, by electric motors or internal combustion engines, or similar methods of traction.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 23 48 017 describes a conveying line station for passengers in which are used lifts which connect the level of the line and that of the roadway, when these two levels are different.
The station has several lifts, each of which is assigned to one destination; these lifts open on to a platform or passage, on the other side of which the vehicles arrive. This arrangement permits the dimensions of the stations to be reduced and the amount of travel of the passengers to be shortened.
However, such a station does not in any way make best use of the servicing by several lifts which may be expected: actually, on the one hand, it permits the existence of an alignment of lifts and a passage between the lifts and the vehicles, intended particularly for obtaining access to the emergency staircases; on the other hand, the travellers arriving by way of the lifts have to wait until the passengers arriving in the vehicles have left in order to be able in their turn to enter the vehicles: the two streams of passengers are moving in opposite directions, and this causes obstruction and delay.